Boeing shares rise on report 737 Max fix could be sooner than expected

Shares of Boeing ticked higher Friday after a report that the plane manufacturer plans to roll out a software upgrade for its 737 Max aircraft in the coming weeks.

The report from Agence France-Presse, citing sources, comes after the U.S. grounded all Boeing 737 Max jets this week. The software upgrade is expected to roll out in 10 days, according to AFP.

The Federal Aviation Administration followed the lead of dozens of other countries, citing links between two fatal crashes as grounds to cancel those flights. Boeing’s stock has tanked more than 10 percent this week in the aftermath.

Shares rose as much as 1.7 percent Friday afternoon following the report. Boeing’s gains were limited as the company told CNBC the overall timeline has not changed.

A weeks-long turnaround would come much sooner than some on Wall Street had estimated. Bank of America predicted this week that it would take the aircraft manufacturer three to six months to “certify the fix.”

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed on Sunday, less than five months after the crash of Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 flight from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. Both planes were new, delivered from Boeing just months before those flights.

Of the more than 350 Boeing 737 Max jets in global fleets, 74 are flown by U.S. airlines United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, according to the FAA.

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